Mosque of al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah

The mosque of the ruler, Amr Allah, is a mosque built in 380 ah during the reign of al-Aziz Allah al-Fatimi, who in 379 Ah (989 ad) began to build another mosque outside Bab al-Futuh, but died before its completion, so his son, the ruler, Amr Allah, completed it 403 Ah (1012-1013 ad), so it was attributed to him and became known as the mosque of the ruler.

Description of the mosque

It has a length of 120.5 meters and a width of 113 meters, its area is less than the AMR mosque, and at the ends of its waterfront (northwest) there are two minarets, surrounded by two great pyramid-shaped bases, and each base is composed of two cubes on top of each other, and the upper Cube is placed slightly back above the lower one, and the height of the latter is the height of the walls of the mosque, and an octagonal minaret protrudes from each of the upper cubes, and in the middle of this waterfront and between the two minarets there is the entrance to the mosque it is the first prominent entrance built in the Cairo mosque, covered by a cylindrical vault with a width of 48.3 meters and a length of 50.5 meters, and at the end of it a door with a width of 21.2 meters and held by a horizontal contract of stone, this contract and the wall in it The entrance is newly built and there are the remains of 60.1 meters high exquisite inscriptions on the right and left, which form a drum in the entrance and the entrance leads to the mosque's Bowl, which is surrounded by awwain.

The iwans

They are in the following order: The south-eastern Iwan (Iwan Al-Qibla) consists of five arcades and each hallway has 17 nodes and is offset by the north-western Iwan and consists of two porches and each hallway also has 17 nodes and the north-eastern and South-Western Iwan and each of them consists of three arcades and each hallway has contracts and all those contracts are carried on shoulders similar to the shoulders of the longitudinal mosque below it, between the contracts, there is a plaster of the exquisite Kufic script, and all the shoulders and columns are made of dark bricks similar to the bricks used in the construction of the Ben Toulon mosque and connects The columns were topped with flat wooden mattresses consisting of two or three pieces and there are two domes mounted on an octagon at the ends of the qibla wall. there is also a third dome above the mihrab. the eastern dome was demolished due to the erection of the wall built by Badr al-Jamali adjacent to the eastern wall of the mosque. all the windows in this wall were also blocked for the same advanced reason, and there was there were two doors on the east side (a door in the middle and a door adjacent to the minaret), a door in the middle of the west side and a door for the preacher next to the pulpit, so there are a total of nine doors As for the windows in this mosque, they are placed on the axis of each node, unlike the windows of the longitudinal mosque, they are slightly deviated from it, and as a result, there were 16 windows in the ruling mosque and in each of the side walls and 17 in each of the Iwan of the Qibla and the wall opposite it, and the two minarets blocked the as mentioned, there was a stucco Azar surrounding the mosque from the magnificent Kufic calligraphy, its traces still remain today in the Qibla Iwan, as well as domes and windows were decorated Some of them are still present in the Iwan of the Qibla, and the expenses of time have passed on this mosque, so Badr al-Jamali assaulted it, blocked the outlets of the eastern wall by building the fence adjacent to this wall, and the earthquake of 702 Ah (1303 AD) severely damaged it, many contracts and shoulders bearing it were destroyed, the roof fell, the tops of the two minarets fell and misfortunes the Egyptian Ministry of Awqaf used it as a storehouse and preserved Islamic artifacts and antiquities before transferring it to the current House and it is now occupied by the salhadar primary school and the Antiquities Conservation Department has been repaired The ruler built two other mosques, the Rashida mosque in 393 Ah (1003 ad), which derived its name from the plan in which it was built, which is the Rashida plan, and the AL-maqs mosque, which he built on the shore of the Nile in the river port of Cairo at that time and have no trace today .

Restoration of the mosque

The mosque was neglected for long periods until its corridors turned into warehouses for other merchants surrounding the area, as it is a commercial area, until the era of President Anwar Sadat, for whom the Bahra Shia community, who began to migrate to Egypt, asked permission to renovate it by their own efforts - it is a holy place for them and the ruler, by the command of God Himself, is a the ancient and aesthetic area of Cairo and its surroundings is sponsored by the mosque and is open to all communities to pray in it. Also, many Druze monotheists from neighboring Arab countries visit the mosque while in Egypt to bless and pray .

Criticism of the restoration process

There have been strong criticisms raised about how the mosque was restored, says Dr. Jalal Al-Shayeb, professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts: "the restoration caused a change in its archaeological features, and it became a new building after they wasted its archaeological value that dates back a thousand years and only the two permits remained of its heritage value.

The importance of the mosque

The mosque has a great place among people, and they are there a lot, especially during the month of Ramadan. They take care of the whole by their own efforts.